Something I Told My Sons

These past two weeks, between wedding preparations, I got something rare. Extended, unhurried time with both my sons.

Naturally, a couple of conversations wandered to work and career. And like a typical all-knowing parent, I made sure to tell them that hard work is necessary but not enough in today’s world. Success has more ingredients, and each must be worked on deliberately.

They listened impatiently, the way sons do.

Luck can be created. Increase the probability of it finding you. Meet more people, share ideas openly, try more things. Luck tends to find the ones who are visible and in motion.

Networking is not collecting contacts. It is investing emotional energy in interesting people without expecting anything in return.

Self-promotion is not bragging. Good work nobody knows about is irrelevant.

And the boss backing you? That is earned. Make their goals your goals, and trust follows.

Whether my sons absorbed all this, I do not know. Fathers rarely find out.

But it was worth saying. So I said it.